Dennis Rodman drives to the basket during his time with the Chicago Bulls (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

EXCLUSIVE: As Dennis Rodman begins the task of attempting to lead North Korea’s men’s basketball team to the 2016 Olympics, Metro spends an afternoon in the company of the NBA legend nicknamed ‘the Worm’.

Dennis Rodman is not difficult to spot as we meet in the restaurant of a central London hotel.

Being 6ft 7in, having facial piercings and with dark glasses and a cap on, there is no mistaking the former NBA defensive star among the crowd.

He is here to talk about his work for North Korean basketball and January’s Paddy Power Dennis Rodman Invitational in Pyongyang, but it is his friendship with the Democratic People’s Republic’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un which is the burning topic.

The secretive country’s relationship with the West is hardly the friendliest, so how does the pair’s dynamic work, especially with the added difficulty Kim does not speak much English.

‘I use two translators,’ says Rodman, who is now 52 and sits tucking into a rather grand burger and chips, with a side plate of more burger patties.

‘He is a very passionate guy. What I’m doing – coaching the North Korean team – I’m doing as a favour to him. He loves his basketball. He has passion for it, I have passion for it.

‘So many people there love American sport. [Kim] is a good friend, just a cool guy.’

Rodman, whose career off-court has seen him appear in Celebrity Big Brother over here and took in a spell as a wrestler, acknowledges it may come as a surprise to hear such things about the 30-year-old son of the late Kim Jong-il. ‘I didn’t know he liked basketball but we just started talking about the simplest things in the world,’ he says of his first conversation with Kim which followed a documentary Rodman, known as ‘The Worm’, made in North Korea.

‘I go back in four weeks’ time and will start to train the team for the game in January. Getting the team together is the easy part. I want to get them to the Olympics in Rio in 2016.

‘There is a bit of a problem with no one being taller than 6ft 4in, 6ft 5in. But they are great shooters.

‘I wish it was a big challenge there but it’s not. It’s a gift.

‘It’s like going to Disneyland every day, just loving what you do.’ And with that, Rodman is off, heading back to his room ahead of a night’s partying. And then his next stop: Pyongyang.

Dennis Rodman flew in to London to speak to Metro about the Paddy Power Dennis Rodman Invitational, a basketball game taking place in North Korea in January

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